Part IV! I'm so excited to have made it this far. Only two more parts to go!

I was worried I wasn't going to get this part done in time. I try to start each part the day before I submit it, but the last couple days I'm been distracted by Project GUARDIAN: The Rise and Fall by Her Head In The Clouds. Why is her Jack so incredible? WHY?

Again, dedicated to WingsofGossamer on tumblr. Also to XMenFan33, who listens to me lament how easily distracted I am – and who reads all my stories even though she hasn't seen RotG yet. XD

For Better or For Worse

Part IV

It was a fourteen hour ride to the small town on the border.

They arrived as the sun was starting to dip below the horizon, staining the sky orange, purple and pink.

Smoke was still rising from the houses that had been burned to the ground. Broken wood was strewn across the streets. In the distance, Jack could see more smoke – ash was all that remained of the fields.

People in the streets tried to clean up, as well as salvage anything that Pitch and his shadows hadn't completely destroyed.

"How did you know it was here?" Toothiana asked.

Jack dismounted before he looked over. "Because he doesn't care about hitting me. He always hits what I care about."

"Jack!" Two young voices cried, and he turned to see two children racing up the street toward him. A brown haired boy, his face streaked with soot, and a blond girl with a tear streaked face.

He crouched down and accepted the hug they gave him, feeling a surge of relief as he did.

"You guys okay?" he asked, pulling back to look them over.

Jamie nodded, his jaw clenched in what Jack recognized as an attempt to stay strong. "Mom had us hide in the woods."

Jack nodded, and looked at the girl, who still had her head buried against his chest, her shoulders trembling. "Sophie? You okay?"

She nodded, but didn't lift her head.

"What are you doing here?" Jamie asked. "Did you get married yesterday or something?"

Jack looked back, both as an answer to the question, and because he heard footsteps. Toothiana came up behind him. Her violet eyes surveyed the damage around them, her lips pursed, then looked down at the children.

"Jamie, Sophie, this is my-" he took a deep breath "-wife: Princess Toothiana."

The siblings looked up at the young woman, Sophie even lifted her head, wide eyed as she looked at the princess.

Toothiana's hair was pulled back in a braid, the colorful streaks clearly visible. And though she was dressed simply, the colors were still more vibrant than was common in Burgess.

She crouched down beside Jack, and he was taken aback by the tenderness in her gaze as she looked at the children.

"Are you two all right?" she asked.

"Pretty..." Sophie murmured, staring at Toothiana. She wandered a few steps from Jack, looking up at the princess in wonder.

Toothiana smiled, and in Jack's tired state, it was almost blinding.

He turned back to Jamie, slightly amused that the young boy was staring at Toothiana as well. She was pretty, of that Jack was very aware.

But there were more important things on his mind at the moment.

"Jamie, was Pitch Black here?" he asked.

"Huh?" Jamie yanked his eyes away from Toothiana to look back at Jack. "Y-yeah. I heard him say something about you, but we were already running into the forest."

Jack looked over at Toothiana, now that he had proof this was all about him. She met his gaze, her lips pursed once more. She nodded softly.

Returning the gesture, Jack turned back to Jamie.

"I'm gonna put an end to this," he said. "I promise. Now where's your dad? I need to talk to him."

Jamie led them to his father. Toothiana took Sophie's hand as they walked into the wreckage. Jack wasn't quite ready to admit it out loud, but the move was certainly endearing.

From Jamie's father, and several other men, he pieced together all that had happened the day before, including what direction Pitch had come from, and which way he had left.

"What now?" Toothiana asked, when they stood alone on the edge of the shouldering field, their horses grazing on the sparse grass, avoiding the ashes as much as they.

Jack looked at the sky, which grew steadily darker with each passing moment.

The night was Pitch's element, so the safest choice was to stay close to the light.

At the same time, Jack had no doubt Pitch already knew he was here.

"I have to get out of the town, and try to get some sleep," he said, rubbing his eyes to try and wipe away the exhaustion weighing down his eyelids. "Pitch will find me sooner than later, and I can't put them at risk again. Not when they've already lost so much."

"So we'll camp out in the woods," Toothiana said. "It will make it at least a little harder for him to find us."

It was the conclusion Jack had already reached – with one difference.

"No, you should stay here," Jack said. He made sure not to say it as an order, knowing that would make her all the more resistant to the idea. "I'm not putting you in harm's way."

"You should have thought about the before you brought me with you," she said.

"You didn't really give me a choice," he reminded. But she ignored him.

"If he's so intent on taking things away from you, there's no guarantee he won't come for me here – he doesn't sound like the type to care about more than the fact I'm your wife."

"You have a point." He rubbed his forehead.

"There's safety in numbers," she said, probably pushing him the last few inches to agreeing with her.

With a feint grin, Jack held up his hands in surrender. "All right, all right. Just don't kill me, okay?"

"You're really afraid of that," she said, leaning back on her heels.

Jack quirked an eyebrow. "Have you given me a reason not to be?"

"You haven't given me a reason to," she said.

Jack couldn't deny that was a relief – and he just hoped that wouldn't change any time in the near future. Taking the reins of his horse (he could have sworn that creature glared at him for interrupting its meal), he gave Toothiana a small bow.

"Lead the way, Your Highness."

She had taken her mare's reins as well, but she didn't start mount immediately, stroking the horse's nose.

"Tooth," she said.

Jack had just swung up into the saddle, and he looked over at her. "What?"

"You can just call me Tooth," she said. "It's what my friends call me."

Jack adjusted his hold on the reins, considering what he had just been told. He watched her mount her mare, still as graceful. She looked like a princess. Not just beautiful features and a lithe figure, but with grace and dignity. No wonder everyone had started at her. They were used to him, and he had been told many times that he didn't really seem like a prince.

But she was every inch a royal.

Her words finally sank in as he finished admiring her, almost wishing he had that kind of poise.

"Does that mean we're friends?" he asked.

Toothiana lightly kicked her heels to her horses's sides, tugging the reins to turn towards the forest.

She didn't answer the question. And with her back to him, he couldn't even begin to guess at what she was thinking. She was sitting up straight, her long, dark braid down the center of her back.

Women, he thought, shaking his head.

He was grinning despite himself.

#

The moon looked full to the untrained eye, but Jack could tell it had already started to wane.

They had made came in a small grove in the forest. The town was well out of view through the trees. Toothiana had changed their direction several times as they had gone deeper among the trees, to throw off anyone watching who might try to follow them later.

The fire they had started had begun to burn down, but it was still going, to frighten away any animals that might come by in the night.

They had rolled out their sleeping bags on opposite sides of the fire by unspoken agreement.

Compared to his mattress back at the palace, the ground felt harder than a rock. But Jack was tired enough he didn't really care. He as now tired enough to wonder if it had been common sense that had sent him running out here, or if it had really been exhaustion and paranoia.

He lay on his back, looking up at the moon for the answer, but getting no reply.

After a few minutes, the crackle of the fire, and the chatter of nocturnal animals faded to comfortable background noise, and Jack's eyes closed.

Starting from the muscles supporting his spine, his body relaxed, and he took a deep breath of the cool night air.

"Jack?"

He didn't open his eyes. "Yeah?"

"What did he do to you?"

Now his eyes did open, and he looked up at the star flecked sky.

His mind drifted back. He tried to remember when all this had started. It felt as though Pitch had always been in the back of his mind, though he knew there had been a starting point.

"He used to be a member of the court," Jack said finally. "The Blacks were one of those families that got a little worse with each generation, but they were kept at court to keep an eye on them."

"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer," Toothiana said.

He nodded. "Yeah. I don't really remember, but they tell me he went insane when I was about six. His family kept him locked up, but when his father died he still came into his inheritance and got out.

"What do you know about how my mother died?"

There was a surprised pause before Toothiana spoke carefully. "She got sick why she was pregnant and went into labor with your sister early. She wasn't able to recover."

"Close," Jack sighed. "It's the official story, because we couldn't admit how close Pitch had gotten to us. My mom started to get better after she had Emma. It was a miracle that Emma survived, but we were sure that they were both out of danger. Then my mom and I both got food poisoning."

"Pitch."

He nodded. "I had been healthy beforehand, so I was able to recover. But mom was still weak, and she didn't make it. A week later, Pitch freed all the prisoners and led a revolt on the castle. My guess is that he wanted to throw my father off so he wouldn't be ready to resist the attack.

"We couldn't risk any hostile kingdoms finding out how close Pitch had gotten, so the official story is just that she never recovered."

He heard Toothiana shift in her sleeping bag. "That makes sense."

"Yeah," he sighed. He fought back the feelings of loneliness that the thought of his mother always brought back. "He managed to escape before the guards could catch him. He hung around the edges of the kingdom. We would hear reports occasionally, and there would be raids sometimes. But when we sent someone after him, it was always a waste of time.

"He attacked again two years ago, when I was seventeen. I almost had him." His fist clenched, frustrated over how close he had come, only to fail.

"I was so close," he whispered, glaring at his own knuckles, which almost glowed white from the pressure. "But the coward always has a backup plan – and he knows exactly what my weak points are. I don't even know how. One of his men managed to kidnap Emma. I had to choose between catching Pitch and saving her."

"You chose your sister."

"It wasn't even a choice," he said, looking back up at the stars. His hand slowly relaxed. Frustrating as the loss had been, he couldn't regret his choice. "I'll lay down my life for my people. But Emma is the one thing I won't sacrifice."

"I feel the same about Barina," she said quietly, and he understood that her words were an approval of his choice.

"I've fought him since then. Sometimes I come closer than others. I've beaten him a few times, but he always has an escape route. Always." His hand clenched again. "Last time it was Jamie. He threatened him the same way he threatened Emma. There was no choice."

There was silence for a moment. Jack's heavy eyes wanted to close and sleep. But the frustration was too hot in his blood as he thought about Pitch.

"I never thought you would be so good with children," Toothiana said after another stretch of silence. "But when Barina ran off before the ball, she swore she would always hate you. When you brought her back, she said you weren't so bad." She chuckled softly. "I think she has a crush on you."

Jack laughed as well, though a little dryly. "Sometimes I think kids are the only people I'm good with."

Toothiana hummed in response, and he could hear sleep creeping into her voice. When he glanced across at her, he saw her head rested on her arms, her eyes closed.

He closed his eyes as well, letting go of his frustration to try and get what sleep he could.

"Why is he obsessed with you?"

His eyes stayed closed again, and it wasn't an answer he had to think about.

"Because he knows I'm afraid of him," he said. "He loves fear – he plays with it like a cat with a bug. But he knows I'm not afraid for myself – I'm afraid for the people I love. He wants to know how far he has to push me for that to change."

She shifted again. When he looked over, he saw her eyes were open, watching him.

"You have a pure heart, Jack," she said, and he thought he saw a tired smile tugging at the corners of her lips. "Don't let him taint it."

Jack met her gaze. "That's what I'm most afraid of."

#

The forest was quite, and Jack had finally sunk into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The forest was quiet, but not silent.

An owl called out as it swooped down after mice that squeaked as they scurried away, forgetting their search for food in the face of danger.

A bat screeched, it's ears compensating for its lack of sight, echoes telling it where the bugs were that it could eat.

A breeze moved through the tops of the trees. It was cool, almost cold. But it still whispered of warmer weather that was to come, of spring turning to summer.

A wolf howled in the distance, calling out to its pack, and they answered back. None of them were anywhere near the young couple's campsite. They sang about the joy of family, and running free through the cool night.

Maybe that was why, even in his sleep, Jack smiled faintly as he rolled over. In his heart, he could feel the meaning of the song, and it was something he understood with every part of himself.

The fire crackled, casting light throughout the clearing, sparks and ashes rising into the night sky until they vanished amidst the stars.

But as the hours passed, the fire became weaker without fresh wood, until it was little more than embers. The woodland creatures fell silent.

The wolves howled again – a warning, this time.

Jack shift again, curling his body a little tighter.

The wind died away.

Any animals that were in the area moved away, aware that something was coming that threatened all of them, from that bat in the sky to the mouse scurrying through the underbrush.

The haunting whoo of an owl faded as it flew off from the branch it had sat comfortably on for several hours.

All sounds faded... until it was silent.

Jack shifted again.

The last piece of wood in the fire split into, the popping crack as loud as lighting in the silent air.

Jack's blue eyes burst open and he sat up. A shadow glided to his right, and he jerked his head to look over... at nothing but the forest.

A laugh rippled through the air. A laugh that Jack knew too well, the sound he would never be able to forget. It haunted him both awake and asleep.

Countless times he had woken up imaging he had heard it in his room, unable to tell if it was real or not.

But this time, as the laugh echoed through the clearing again, he knew it was real.

A shiver shot up and down his, as every hair on his body stood on end.

He looked to his left, to the other side of the fire, on instinct more than anything else, but his heart froze.

Toothiana's sleeping bag was empty.